Black-type breakthrough and spring promise

West Australian breeding giant Bob Peters’ latest eastward sortie kicked off in superb style when his Group 1 winning gelding Cosmic Crusader (Maurice) won his third black type event in the Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield.

The blossoming of the five-year-old into a stakes horse this season has been impressive indeed. Now it’s even more so after this first Melbourne victory.

After an average return of two Perth city wins from his first eight starts, Cosmic Crusader found his groove by winning his next four – split into pairs by 11 months out with injury.

He then ascended to black type level last November with two Group 3 thirds followed by a victory in Ascot’s Carbine Club Stakes (Listed, 1400m) and his crowning moment – triumph in the Northerly Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) at the same track.

A 0.4 length second to Rey Magnerio (Magnus) in the rich Gold Rush (Gr 3, 1400m) closed his summer campaign, before Peters sent Cosmic Crusader to Pakenham trainer Andrea Leek. On Saturday, she celebrated a perfect start with the five-year-old.

Despite a possibly too short 1200m, the son of Arrowfield shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero) was sent out a well supported $3.60 favourite, and was expertly handled by Daniel Stackhouse, making the most of his only ride of the day.

Cosmic Crusader jumped well from barrier one and settled behind midfield on an inside line as the compact field ambled through the early stages.

Most riders on the day eschewed the inside on an official soft 6 which seemed to play patchily. Jordan Childs, for example, on $6 third-elect Miraval Rose (Grunt) in the Bletchingly, jumped from gate two but eased out from the rear to be the widest runner on the bend, but his mare paddled up the outside and finished seventh.

Stackhouse was content to stick to the inside, possibly arguing that much-avoided part of the track was in comparatively decent condition by this, the seventh race.

Last-start stakes winner Winnasedge (Cliff’s Edge), the $4.20 second favourite who’d emerged from the muddling early speed to become the unlikely leader, made a dash for home on straightening.

But to his inside Cosmic Crusader had moved up easily to match strides with him, before kicking away inside the last 200 metres and scoring effortlessly, by 2.5 lengths. Winnasedge held second, 1.5 lengths ahead of $7.50 shot Recommendation (Shalaa) in third.

Far more illustrious targets await. Cosmic Crusader will likely progress to Melbourne’s first top tier event of the new season, the Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on August 29, before a return to middle distance with his long-term target being the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m). Bookmakers wound him in slightly to $26 for that feature, to be held at Flemington on October 24, in light of his Bletchingly win.

But for now it was a case of seeing his first hurdle for his new team cleared in ultra impressive style.

“I was very happy where he was back in the run,” Leek told Racing.com. “I was thrilled when he did get a little bit of cover just for that short amount of time.

“He (Stackhouse) rode him a treat. He rode him to get further distance, he rode him to win, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Leek also revealed Cosmic Crusader had had wind surgery during his recent spell, from noted throat specialist Tom Ahern, saying “that’s obviously helped him come along”, and added her thanks to Peters.

“Bob’s been enormous, giving me this horse, entrusting me with him,” she said. “The Peters family are fantastic and I couldn’t thank them enough.

“Winning does the talking. I’m just thrilled, and thankful.”

Stackhouse said he had pursued the ride on Cosmic Crusader after finishing one place behind him in third in a recent impressive jump-out at Caulfield.

“I got on the phone to Andrea straight away after he trialed and said, ‘Where’s that horse running?’” he said. “So I was happy to get to ride him.

“He’s beautiful. As soon as a I sat on him and cantered down to the prelim, he dropped his head and gave me a beautiful feel.

“He’s a bit of a quirky sort of horse. He can lose his marbles a little bit, but once he got a man behind the gates he was lovely.

“They were slow away and he got tightened up, but I just rode him comfortable. He’s got a beautiful big action on him. We got some cover, but once they slowed up, he was a bit uncomfortable.

“I stuck to the inside. I thought the ground was fine there. He made up so much ground in about three strides, and I thought he had the race won pretty easily there.”

Stackhouse added: “The credit has to go to Andrea and their team. They’ve done a fantastic job.

“He just switches off at the right time. You ask him to go and he can really accelerate very fast.

“He’s got a lot better races to win than this, but it was a nice little kick off point for the team.”

Cosmic Crusader is the first of five foals to race for Cosmic Storm (Street Sense), who won four Perth stakes events for Peters capped by the 2016 La Trice Classic (Gr 3, 1800m).

A firm believer in sticking to a mating, Peters has sent Cosmic Storm to Maurice seven times. Her only other cover, just after Cosmic Crusader was born, came from Windsor Park Stud shuttler Charm Spirit (Invincible Spirit), which explains why among Cosmic Storm’s progeny, only Cosmic Crusader comes with an NZ suffix.

Cosmic Crusader missed to Maurice in 2024, soon after her filly foal by him died after birth. She’s now in-foal to him again.

Maurice – standing this spring at Arrowfield for a slightly reduced $44,000 – has 35 stakes winners worldwide from 990 runners, at 3.53 per cent. In Australia he has 11 from 280 at 3.92 per cent.

Cosmic Crusader is one of the 15-year-old’s seven elite winners worldwide.

Flying filly Cavalry Girl (Bivouac) became her sire’s eighth stakes winner and likely sealed him the second season stallions’ title with a runaway victory in Saturday’s Lightning Stakes (Listed, 1050m) at Morphettville.

Ridden by Todd Pannell, the three-year-old jumped to the front from gate seven of 10 and dominated as the $2.60 favourite, rounding the bend under a tight hold and streaking clear to score by 4.5 lengths on a soft 7.

Trained in Warrnambool by Tom Dabernig, Cavalry Girl – a winner three times in Melbourne – didn’t just beat a field of locals in the feature for two- and three-year-olds.

Yuuki (Doubtland), trained in Bendigo by Tim Fitzsimmons, claimed second at $13 ahead of Adelaide filly Bardigrub (Headwater) at $5.50, with Team Hayes’s two-year-old Jacaranda (Home Affairs) completing an all-female first four at $5.

Bred by Patrick Hodgens and Rob Piper of NSW, Cavalry Girl was a $110,000 Inglis Classic purchase by Joe O’Neill’s Prime Thoroughbreds.

After a debut second in city-class two-year-old feature the Geelong Diamond (1100m) and a second-up Flemington victory, she was mentioned in Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) discussions, before connections changed tack.

She ultimately won three of her first 11 starts but has boomed this preparation, with a win and two seconds from three Melbourne starts before Saturday’s value-boosting stakes breakthrough.

Dabernig stable foreman Dara O’Meachair said Cavalry Girl could now continue rising in grade – something that would add further evidence of Bivouac’s (Exceed And Excel) stock training on.

The rising 10-year-old entered the last Saturday of 2025-26 holding a slender $39,000 lead over the late Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) on the second season sires’ table.

Cavalry’s girl’s addition of $65,000 to Bivouac’s earnings tally – along with the $29,000 his gelding Benevac tipped in for running second at Randwick – should seal the title for the Darley stallion, with Wootton Bassett’s stock having been relatively quiet on Saturday, and with the season ending this Friday.

Cavalry Girl became Bivouac’s eighth stakes winner from 134 runners at a robust 5.97 per cent. He will stand at Darley Kelvinside this spring for $33,000, down from $55,000.

Asked if Cavalry Girl could continue rising through black type levels, O’Meachair told Racing.com: “I think so. She was a precocious two-year-old but she’s really trained on and developed nicely.

“She’s not an overly big filly but has plenty of strength and has progressed from two to three, and there’s no reason why she can’t develop more from three to four.”

He added: “Her rating will really take a hike after this stakes win. It’s going to put her in some classy company.

“We’ll just have to have a fine look through the program, but she’s in excellent form so hopefully she can add to that record.

“She’s had a great preparation. She’s been very consistent and running against some talented fillies. She had a win (at Caulfield Heath) a couple of starts back, came here in excellent form and had the form to win if everything went right.

“She showed her class on the day.”

O’Meachair paid tribute to the experienced Pannell, who was a late substitution after the originally booked Jacob Opperman became unavailable for the meeting.

“Thanks to Todd for picking up the ride late. He had already done his homework and was very aware of the filly and her strengths and weaknesses, so he gave her a lovely ride,” O’Meachair said, before adding it was “lovely to get a stakes winner again for Joe O’Neill and his Prime Thoroughbreds”.

Pannell said he could envisage Cavalry Girl now going from her first stakes win to the top level, with Morphettville’s Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) a feasible target.

“To the fact that she’s not doing anything wrong in her races, she’s a very genuine, athletic looking horse with speed … she’s going to step up in grade,” he said.

“Those fillies and mares races like the Sangster would be something you could hope for in the autumn next year.”

Panel described as “perfect” Cavalry Girl’s performance in her third attempt at black type – following two unplaced efforts in Flemington Listed class.

“Obviously with those speedy things, the jump’s probably the key. If they can get away quick enough and not blunder at the start, half the job’s sort of done,” he said.

“She was able to do that and get across. She’s quite athletic, she handled the conditions good.

“She cornered beautifully, and when they’re doing everything right, they’re really going to be in the finish. I didn’t realise I was that far in front, but she did quicken good when I put the pressure on her, and she was perfect.”

Cavalry Girl is the first foal of Islands (I Am Invincible), a two-time NSW provincial winner and a half-sister to 2010 Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) queen Military Rose (General Nediym), a quintuple stakes winner.

Military Rose is also the granddam of dual juvenile G3 winner Espionage (Zoustar).

Islands missed to Shinzo (Snitzel) in 2024 and was covered last season by Stay Inside (Extreme Choice).

Well-bred filly Scintillation (I Am Invincible) served notice of future black type success with a second win in three starts in Saturday’s Marcellin College Randwick Handicap (1100m) for two-year-olds.

Jumping from barrier four of 10 for Zac Lloyd, Rosemont Stud’s stakes-placed filly sat outside the second horse without cover as a solid pace ensued. She took the lead at the 300 metres and dashed to a 1.5 length break, which proved more than sufficient in the run to the line.

Starting a slightly easy $7.50 chance, the O’Shea-Charlton trained Scintillation scored by 0.77 lengths from Team Cavanough’s $18 hope Suasion (All Too Hard), with Chris Waller’s Lorax (Zoustar) taking third at $19. Letters Patent (Wootton Bassett), the $2.80 favourite for Waller and Godolphin, finished fifth.

Bred by Rosemont, Scintillation is the first foal of Minhaaj (Exceed And Excel), who won a Group 3 at two for Lindsay Park and, under O’Shea, a further two at four.

The filly was offered at Inglis Easter 2025 but was passed in short of a $600,000 reserve and subsequently retained by Rosemont.

Carrying the stud’s famed red with the white gatecrashing lion, she debuted with an 0.87 length win as an odds-on favourite at Gosford in February. The already valuable filly then boosted her worth with a dash of black type when a two-length third in the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) up the Flemington straight on March 7.

After a spell, her first-up run on Saturday had her trainers forecasting another black type attempt as her next target, in Caulfield’s Quezette Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) on August 15.

“We decided some months ago to target this race and if she ran well then we will take her to Melbourne for the Quezette,” O’Shea told reporters.

“I’m not sure how she will go on racing the Melbourne direction, so the Caulfield race will determine what we do with her in the spring.

“But she’s a very promising filly and it was good to see her get the job done today.”

Lloyd was also impressed with Scintillation.

“I might have got to the front too soon but she was always going to win,” he said.

“She was actually drawing away from them again on the line. She was very strong late in the race.

‘But I think she is essentially a sprinter – she is bred to be a sprinter and is only going to improve with racing.”

Minhaaj now was a yearling filly by Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and a weanling colt by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), and was covered last spring by Harry Angel (Dark Angel).

I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), standing at an unchanged $220,000 at Yarraman Park this spring, has 127 stakes winners worldwide from 1365 runners, at a thumping 9.3 per cent.

The rising 22-year-old triple champion sire will finish fourth on the Australian general sires’ table when the season ends on Friday, and third by stakes winners (11).